Editorial:

PCSD 1 issues responsible plan for budget cuts

Posted 2/4/21

There are few things that frighten adults more than the idea of suddenly being without a job. It has been one of the worst issues Americans have had to deal with in the pandemic.

When the …

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Editorial:

PCSD 1 issues responsible plan for budget cuts

Posted

There are few things that frighten adults more than the idea of suddenly being without a job. It has been one of the worst issues Americans have had to deal with in the pandemic.

When the Legislature starts talking about budget cuts, especially cuts to education, it creates a culture of fear and anxiety in classrooms on a local level. Teachers, para-educators and others cannot be expected to fully focus on teaching when they are waiting for a pink slip in their pay packets. Yet they do, shaking off their fears and giving their all to make the students feel safe, comfortable, secure and have fun while learning. It is what these front-line professionals do on a daily basis.

We cannot say enough in support of the board of trustees, superintendent and staff of Park County School District 1 in their approach to those rumblings at the Capitol about impending budget cuts to education. 

Superintendent Jay Curtis has been proactive in keeping the process transparent, issuing a video to the staff members outlining the plans to make the cuts as painless as possible. The reduction in costs will take place first by calculating in the savings realized when a staffer retires or leaves for other reasons. The belief is most of the required cuts — anticipated to be at least $1 million — can be absorbed in that way.

Other ideas include considering activity fees, with scholarships available for less affluent students, and launching the district’s own virtual school, increasing the revenue flowing into the coffers. Even reducing overnight trips to save some $60,000 annually is on the table.

What is not on the table is a reduction in the quality of education offered to students in the district. Its mission declares: “As a learning community, we inspire, engage and prepare all students” and the mission remains inviolate.  

The trustees and staff as a whole remain dedicated to providing the stable, nurturing environment that students on every level need to succeed in studies and in life. For some of these students, school is the largest source of stability in their lives. For these students, arriving at school to learn that the structure as they knew it — including teachers, staff, classes and technology — had changed, could be devastating.

The administration, teachers, staff and trustees are to be commended for setting aside personal feelings to turn over every rock and examine every possibility in order to maintain that stability and the quality of education residents have come to appreciate in Powell and Park County School District 1.

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